Need DAC/Streaming Advice

Like others, I had a great deal of difficulty with connectivity of a Bluesound Node 2.  I think (hope, pray) that I’ve permanently solved that by putting an access point (google Wifi mesh) and connecting the Node via Ethernet.  It’s been stable since I made that change.  I have two Node 2’s in separate homes connected this way now.  For the price, Node 2/2i is a great device.

I also have an Aurender N100 in another system. To satisfy my curiousity, I  compared the Node 2 to my Aurender N100 going into the same DAC playing the same file and while streaming via Tidal.  On another post, I talk about how I did this and the cables used (turns out they’re pretty important).

Conclusions:

1)  The DAC in the Node 2 is decent for the price, but is easily and significantly bested by my outboard DAC - which is no surprise given the significant cost differential.

2) the Node 2 is a great device as a streamer but is significantly bettered by the Aurender in every regard too. 

3) Aurender’s conductor app is significantly better than Bluesound app in every regard.  

4) Aurender conductor app is severely limited in that it only runs on an iPad.  This is a major frustration.  We have adult kids who don’t travel with iPads - so they can’t control an Aurender server - hence my use of the Bluesound Node 2 in two of these systems. 

My $.03 (inflation)
mgrif

Thanks for posting that, mgrif
In the past, I didn’t think that there was much difference between Bluesound as a transport when I compared it with my Oppo 105 and my MacAir using Audirvana + when all played into the same DAC.  They didn’t sound identical, but I thought they were more or less equivalent.  After not using Bluesound for over a month due to connectivity issues, and now using it again, I do think that it is just a slight bit less transparent than the other two options I currently have for controlling my NAS.  My 0.03 on SQ

Really trying to understand why audiophiles prefer AirPlay? 

@puppyt we carry both Bryston and Lumin, and I would recommend looking at Lumin if you're interested in a change in the user experience coming from the Bryston and Manic Moose. Although as others have mentioned fronting the Bryston with Roon is also a good option.

@ghulamr AirPlay will resample any streamed music to 16-bit/48kHz which may be undesirable to some. Most of the higher-end dedicated audio streamers support native bit-perfect playback of multiple different audio codecs and containers, which can be beneficial. Particularly if your DAC sounds different depending on what it's playing back.

 listen to the man  @lalitk